Last Sunday I went to downtown Icheon and after shopping at Daiso I walked through the shopping street and look around what’s on sale. When I reached Watsons I was tempted to go inside but thinking I just spend $30 in Daiso and shopping in Gmarket is cheaper it stops me and I continue walking until I reached Naughty Cat accessory store. I was also tempted to go inside but thinking I don’t need anything from the store I continue walking but seeing a newly opened shop beside Dickies stops me. The shoe store was gone already, the last time I passed it is under renovation and now a new shop is already opened. Within four years in Icheon I already see how shops closed and new shop open, business is not good all the time. I just took a picture of the newly open ARTBOX shop and go, but after a few steps I walked back and went inside the shop, the impulsive me can’t control myself again. I have thought from the shop name I can find Korean art inside like cards, stationaries or other items to display.

There’s  a lot of shoppers and curious shoppers inside, I took a small shopping basket thinking if the items are cheap, I can buy a few but I have already reached the end of the store I can’t find anything good it is basically like Daiso but the items in Artbox are more expensive and most of the items have no prices written on them which is quite a turn off,  I will not pick an item I like and be surprised of the cost when I have to pay, I should say Artbox is more about Olive Young, Naughty Cat, Daiso and Barunson combine, which are all few meters away from Artbox.

Artbox have beauty and makeup section, accessories, school supply items, bags and luggages, candies and even few house supplies like in Daiso.  I have to walked twice on the shelves to see what’s good, when I found scented candles I took two of lavender scented candle. My husband wishes the other night to have a lavender scent in our apartment so he can sleep, there are times he can’t sleep and it makes him grumpy in the morning.

I continue checking the aisles again I maybe missed something, I went to perfume section and try the tester. I tried four different perfumes and I am about to buy the scent I’d like when I found the cheaper perfume below the display cabinet, it has been just too bad there’s no tester for them. Oh well, I just follow my instinct and  pick the purple box and went to the counter, service is not that great, a little slow. I spent about $18 for my haul after paying I left, while walking I saw Missha on holiday sale and it didn’t stop me to check what’s for grab, I spent too much already for one day, it should be enough.

Looking at the photos I took, it seems I missed to visit the second floor section of Artbox, I’ll probably check it next time I went to downtown.

Donuts are considered as one of the comfort food by most individuals, the glazed the chocolate flavor is very appetizing.  They mostly come in different color, size, shape and flavors. When I went to Dunkin Donuts few weeks ago I was overwhelmed seeing different flavors and color in the display case, so I shopped one each design and flavor.

What attracts me the most is the Christmas design donuts (photo above), they are very colorful and attractive. They cost a bit more than the normal design donuts.

Since we moved in Shinha-ri I seldom go to Icheon downtown, I only visit once a week when there’s no frozen chicken breast anymore for my husband daily meal. Unlike when we still lived in downtown Icheon, I can wander around three or four times a week to shop, go to the gym and pay the bills.

If I felt like walking the long way I get off at the Seolbongsan bus stop and from there I walk to the shopping streets back to the bus terminal where I should get off on the first place.  That’s what I did last Sunday, I walk through the traditional market to shopping streets, every Sunday is market day so the market was full of people, selling and buying local food.

When I am around the market I always went to Daiso to check what’s new and if there’s an item that interests me, when I saw bubble wrapped displayed outside I immediately took one roll, I need it for wrapping my box and probably could use it too to wrap our windows to avoid cold air entering our apartment.  Daiso was quite busy there’s a lot of Christmas shoppers and just ordinary shoppers, every time I visit Daiso my first stop is the school supplies aisle. I picked some oil pastel colors, my godson’s in the Philippines will like them, I will include them in the box I need to send home in a few months time. Aside from oil pastel colors I bought other stuff like color sand, clay, pens, shoe laces, colorful makeup case comb and earphone.

Most of the items I bought I don’t need like color sand, the makeup case, shoe laces, clay and pens. I just bought them because  I found them cute, cheap and colorful, hopefully my family will find a use for them. If you will ask my husband about my shopping loots these are junks and I am just wasting my money.

Pancakes are most popular food for breakfast and ready pancake mixes are big time saver, they are easy and convenient to prepare.  One of the benefits when making your own homemade pancakes is to avoid unnecessary ingredients such sugar and corn syrup.

Above is the mini pancakes/hot cakes we made the other day from Ottogi Hot Cake Mix we bought in the supermarket, my husband and I cooked separately. He cooked mini pancakes and I cooked bigger but they didn’t turn out well because they are not fully cooked, haha excuse me it is my first time to cook pancakes from ready mixed.

Pancake mixture is usually made of very simple ingredients such as flour, eggs, butter and milk. To prepare delicious pancakes, use native eggs when making pancake mixture.

We’ve been wanting to eat hot cake since the last 4 years but looking in the hot cake mix in every Korean supermarket we are just left in a corner wishing for the day we can finally buy a hot cake mix. It is not about the price it is about the product description and how to cook it, my husband and I can’t read or speak Hangul.

Well few days ago my friend in Korea who now resides in the US shared the photo of hot cake she just cooked for late night snacks.  I’ve told her about our ordeal and she happily shared her recipes, so when my husband came home from work I opened up of having hot cake on our Friday cheat day, he is a little unwilling because he said it is a different mix but I insisted that I can translate the description written in the package by using virtual Korean keyboard.

So when we shopped for groceries we scanned the hot cake mix for a good deal, Ottogi Hot Cake Mix is the best deal we could get so we bought one package which is 500g and two bottle of Ottogi Cake Syrup.  When we reached home, I carefully copied the procedure at the back using the virtual Korean keyboard and translate it  using Google.  It helps but the translation is not well translated, it is not easy to understand it is such a headache!

Oh well, when I got tired understanding the English translation I opted on searching in the internet and voila in just few key strokes I found what I need about Ottogi Hot Cake Mix.

▶ Product Description

•  Avoid direct sunlight, store in cool place.
• After opening, reseal and store it in the refrigerator.

▶ To Prepare

1. Mix 2 egg with 270cc of milk or water.
2. Pour 500g of hotcake mix and mix well with 1 egg.
3. Fry it in a low heat the dough for 2-3 minutes and turn it upside down and heat it again for 2 minutes.

So when Friday came we followed the instruction above and we are able to make our how hot cake as Friday treat. Having no whisk to mix the ingredients didn’t stop us.

Spaghetti is everyone’s favorite, a dish that has many variants. In the Philippines, spaghetti is sweet and meaty with cheese toppings. So when I first ate spaghetti from Italianni’s I can’t even finish one serving, since then I vowed not to eat on Italianni’s again but when I arrived in Korea there spaghetti is not also the spaghetti my tongue used to know.

So when my husband and I decided to cook spaghetti at home, it doesn’t attract me at all. Spaghetti is my favorite but eating sour  salty taste spaghetti killed my appetite. My husband educates me that’s how spaghetti taste like, savory with tomato sauce and the sweet spaghetti I am talking is  a crap.  As day goes by I have been used to eat spaghetti with a sour salty taste as I named it, I can even eat two servings with black olives in it, so I think I am ready to eat in Italianni’s restaurant again.

Well, when we craved for spaghetti and cooking is impossible we run to 59 Pizza or Pizza school to order spaghetti. The photo above is cheese oven spaghetti from Pizza School, it cost ₩4, 000 while the white cream oven spaghetti cost ₩4, 500.  It is chewy, a little bit salty and meaty goodness.

This is a long overdue post, sending package to the Philippines is what we love to do the most. Mostly our boxes will contains chocolates, noodles, clothes either new or old and every thing that we think our family will love to received. It is my habit to send package to Philippines twice a year from the items I bought on sale in Korea. I send my boxes thru postal office or EMS, everything went well not until I sent something and went stolen, after that my next boxes arrived to my family opened and taped.  I was furious but nothing else I can do but blog my disappointment.

My mother told me to sent my package thru LBC because my cousin used LBC when she sent package to her family from abroad because the box arrived safely, as well one of our distant neighbor but what should I do there’s no LBC in Korea until recently.

[The LBC jumbo box at home]

The dilemma of moving out from Korea left me uncertain if I want to send many boxes thru postal office or went home just to make sure the souvenirs I bought from the countries we visited will reach home safely. Well, I was given a third choice when LBC Balikbayan boxes finally opened in Korea around August 2013 (if I am not mistaken), their main office is in Hyehwa-dong the little Manila of South Korea where most Filipino see each other every Sunday. So I either used EMS or call LBC hotline (1661-5899) for jumbo box.  If I used EMS I have to pay a lot because the rate is per kilo, while in LBC the rate of jumbo box is by zone. I have decided to call the LBC hotline on Thursday (Oct.10?) and a Korean woman pick-up the phone, I looked for someone who speak English just to find someone who can speak Tagalog. Haha

Well, it is going to be easier to explain my thoughts if I am going to speak to someone who can speak Tagalog, right? I also sent message to Korea Balikbayan page in Facebook. Anyway I was told that they are going to call back because the one who can speak Tagalog is not around, lunch break. I received a call while I was outside going to supermarket and was asked for my address, how many box I need and where am I sending.

Everything went well and was told the 2 jumbo boxes I have ordered will arrived in three days, I waited but nobody arrives on my doorstep within 3 days.  Ahm, I counted again maybe it is three working days which mean Saturday and Sunday should not be included,  Edelyn (the Filipina who works at LBC) is very helpful she updates me or follow up if the boxes I have ordered already arrived.

Anyway on Oct. 18, finally the tekbe ajossi knocked on our door and I got the boxes I have ordered, I was pretty excited and I started filling up one of the box with my junks (that’s what my husband call my things). I was overwhelmed with the box because it was bigger than I expected,  I literally fit inside the box I think two people sitting can fit too! When my husband see my boxes he was excited too not for anticipation of sending it but the anticipation that our apartment will be clean and free of junks.

To cut the story short I have informed Edelyn on Oct. 29 that my box is ready for pick-up and the next day tekbe ajossi came to pick it up, it was heavy and luckily the guy is a big guy and there’s elevator in our unit but of course it will not changed the fact that he needs to bring it down from the 4th floor to 1st floor. I am on hesitation if I will go down or I’ll just stay, I choose the latter he might think I don’t trust him with my box. Lol!

[The LBC jumbo box being delivered to my family]

The next day I transfer money to LBC’s account for payment, it cost ₩120,000.  LBC’s rate for jumbo boxes – ₩120,000  to Luzon and Manila, ₩140,000  to Visayas and Mindanao, with free pickup and delivery.

Well, my family received the box after two weeks. Safe and sound, nothing is stolen.  The good thing about LBC Balikbayan box you can send gadget without hidden cost or tax.  I still have one jumbo box left at home which I am going to send before we left Korea,  yeah right within less than three months I will left the country I consider second home.

If you are planning to send balikbayan boxes to Philippines you can call LBC Korea hotline 1661-5899. LBC Korea branch is located at: 1F, 102-1 Hyehwa-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul Korea.

JUMBO BOX

• Free delivery and pick up of the box (anywhere here in Korea)
• 73 x 52 x 73 size
• Maximum weight: 100kls.
• Luzon/Manila (120,000 won) Visayas/Mindanao (140,000 won)

Boxes really create attraction to cats, it was like their place of comfort. Soju, our young male cat whom I named from popular liquor of South Korea (soju) find a solace to sleep at the top of the large balikbayan box I sent home. Look at the photo below how he peacefully sleep.

Soju was the only cat left to our family, some of the younger cat died because they are being bullied by the neighbor cat. It was saddening but we can’t prevent it especially when they fight at night. 🙁

Eating instant noodles developed a negative image over the years. It could be either unhealthy habit or has a bad effect to individual’s health because of too much sodium and preservatives. I do sometimes disregard this information because eating instant noodle is one of the convenient way to eat your meal without cooking or too much preparation. All you need is to boil hot water and fill in the noodle cup and let it sit for few minutes and voila meal is ready!

In Korea instant noodles, Ramyeon is a very popular food, snack. You can find different flavors of noodles from convenient stores to supermarket, from spicy to non-spicy noodles. When I first arrived in Korea instant noodles is the only food I ate along with rice because I was not accustomed with their food like Kimchi and gimbap.  I didn’t like the smell of gim in my food and the taste of kimchi.

As the day goes by, eating Korean food became so easy and I was able to cook Filipino food as well when we moved to a new apartment but still time to time I eat instant noodles to fed my hunger for soup but this time I already knew which soup is spicy and not.

Fried rice is one of the best popular variant of cooking rice and one of my favorite food to eat.  The other day while I am preparing fried eggs for my meal I decided to cook garlic fried rice because eating simple meal like eggs and rice is very tiring already, so I chopped a lot of garlic and onions to cook my meal and use two eggs and one piece sausage as my toppings.

My ingredients:

• Rice, garlic, onion, cooking oil, sausage, eggs, salt and pepper.

Cooking garlic fried rice is very simple, all you have to do is saute the onion and garlic until brown, add the sausage then fry a little and add the rice, mixed all together and drop one egg and cooked until brown or you desire.  Fry one egg and top it in top of the fried rice and serve hot.

[ Tagged In ] Breakfast, Breakfast Food, Eggs, Fried Rice, Fried Rice Menu, Fried Rice Recipes, Garlic Fried Rice, Rice, Sausage